By: Katie Burke
It is illegal for federal agencies to disseminate incorrect information.
The DEA is required by the Information Quality Act, to ensure the “quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information” they distribute and to “establish administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency that does not comply with the guidelines.”
Even though the DEA has admitted the theories, that cannabis use leads to harder drugs and other alleged harms are not based on scientific facts, they are still reporting cannabis as a gateway drug and causes an irreversible cognitive decline in adults, psychosis, and lung cancer. This misinformation is affecting the decisions elected officials make about cannabis. When states make decisions and laws based on false DEA reports, millions of people are not able to access cannabis as a form of medication. For decades politicians have used these disproved harmful effects were reasons to either prohibit or impose burdens on patients seeking safe and legal access to medical cannabis.
Change.org had a petition signed by over 100,000 Americans demanding the DEA stop disseminating false information about medical cannabis. This petition was started by the group Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring safe and legal access to medical cannabis, filed a legal request with the Department of Justice demanding that the DEA immediately update misinformation about cannabis.
The hashtag #DEATellTheTruth was started on Social Media as a way to bring awareness to the petition and the problem. The intent was to have former President Obama instruct the DEA to correct the false information immediately. He did not move to do this before his last day in office. Many people would like to see this petition presented to President Trump and to gain more momentum. Does this petition come to a halt due to the new President?
